Former university president Marc Tessier-Lavigne has released emails in an attempt to refute claims of scientific misconduct. This comes in response to the publication of Theo Baker ’26’s new book “How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University.”
“I felt it was necessary to correct the record, and I used my website so I could do so in a comprehensive manner, including by providing substantial documentary evidence that further refutes Mr. Baker’s reporting,” Tessier-Lavigne wrote to The Daily.
In Nov. 2022, Baker published an article showing how Dutch microbiologist and scientific integrity consultant Elisabeth Bik had found irregularities in four of Tessier-Lavigne’s research papers. According to Bik, one of the papers showed the copying and rearranging of protein blots, which she called “a very serious” issue.
Tessier-Lavigne stepped down from his presidency at Stanford after The Daily published additional articles by Baker revealing the allegations in a 2023 investigation. At 17, Baker was awarded a George Polk Award for this reporting, making him the youngest recipient in the history of the award.
Last May, Baker further published a book titled “How to Rule the World.” Citing Tessier-Lavigne and convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, Baker said his book was meant to promote academic integrity and accountability.
Baker’s book, released on May 19, has resurfaced the reporting from his freshman year in 2022, providing a more in-depth examination of the alleged misconduct. The book also touches on various aspects of the Stanford undergraduate experience, including the commodification of students and Stanford’s recurring “War on Fun.”
Penguin Press, Baker’s publisher, still stands by the reporting in the book. “Penguin Press is proud to publish Theo Baker, the youngest ever recipient of the George Polk award for reporting on falsified research overseen by Marc Tessier-Lavigne, and has full confidence in the rigorous reporting and conclusions of his highly acclaimed book,” wrote Sarah Hutson, the director of publicity at Penguin Press, in response to a request for comment from Baker.
Tessier-Lavigne challenged the resurfaced reporting in the book. According to a lengthy post on his lab website on Aug. 26, Tessier-Lavigne suggested that Baker’s anonymous sources may have been misled by second or third-hand accounts of what happened, due to the size of Genentech and it being a “siloed organization.” In the book, Baker had seven sources who corroborated the account of alleged misconduct.
Also in the post, Tessier-Lavigne raised suspicion at other aspects of Baker’s reporting including the anonymity of Baker’s sources. He also disputed the alleged falsified data — claiming that some findings were incorrect but not falsified — and stated his trip back to California was misconstrued.
Tessier-Lavigne attempted to refute Baker’s claim that he was summoned to California for an internal review by Genentech through emails stating previous plans in California. He claimed the emails established he was attending a preplanned event hosted by Stanford.
In one of the three emails, an anonymous source from a University of California, San Francisco domain wrote to Tessier-Lavigne “I am writing to invite you to be the guest speaker at our 2012 Graduate Division Commencement on May 18 at 10:00 a.m. at the Mission Bay campus.”
Genentech declined to comment directly on Tessier-Lavigne’s recent posting. They deferred to the results of their internal review from April 2023 which followed Baker’s investigation. “None of the current or former employees who were interviewed reported observing or knowing of any fraud, fabrication, or other intentional wrongdoing in the research leading to and reported in the 2009 Nature paper,” Genentech wrote in their review.